1. Technical Field
The subject matter described herein generally relates to managing heat flow, and in particular to devices that create and maintain a steady-state temperature differential.
2. Background Information
Heat normally flows from hot to cold, relaxing away temperature gradients such that isolated systems ultimately come to a thermodynamic equilibrium characterized by a single uniform temperature. Currently, in order for a device to create and maintain a temperature gradient, work must be applied. Maintaining a temperature gradient has utility across a wide range of technological fields, such as heating, refrigeration, environmental control, power generation, and mechanical motion.
Existing devices that apply work to maintain a temperature gradient also generate waste heat. Some devices attempt to use this waste heat (e.g., waste heat generated by a vehicle engine can be directed to the vehicle's interior to provide heating during the winter months) but such systems are typically inefficient and fail to address the initial requirement of providing work, such as by burning fossil fuel (e.g., gasoline, coal, oil, etc.).